Page 171 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 171
the equilibrium of the mountain economy in the apennines
lets, but on periodical opportunities such as fairs and markets and practi-
cally ubiquitous peddling.
This was also an area bordering with the Papal State, over which it was
impossible to exercise control, especially on the side marked by the moun-
tains of the north-western slopes of the Gran Sasso and the southern slopes
of the Monti della Laga. Many openings were available to those wishing
to secretly get to the other side to expatriate either for trade or other rea-
sons. Smuggling ran parallel to regulated activities and involved enormous
numbers of offenders (Bulgarelli Lukacs 2006, 116–22). It is well known that
the Via degli Abruzzi connected Naples and Florence by way of the Apen-
nines, but by the 16th century it now appeared resized in comparison with
the Middle Ages, however many paths flanking it both longitudinally and
transversally, thus helping to connect not only the major centres, but also
those of lesser significance, and sheep tracks and paths (tratturelli), mule
tracks and every other kind of path able to meet the needs of the Apennine
area (Berardi 2005, 313–4; Di Stefano 2007, 12–6.).
3. Secondary and tertiary sectors
Mountains and plain were connected throughout the whole year and this
was fundamental to the economic system of the area. Transhumance and
seasonal emigration were based on this connection, but could not univer-
sally meet the constant search for additional means of sustenance on the
mountains, nor could they ensure the self-sufficiency of families.
There were strategies of diversification in the manufacturing and ser-
vice sectors, favouring a plurality of rural activities and proto-industrial
initiatives that were tested and practiced anywhere to different degrees of
intensity and in different ways from place to place.
Costantino Felice notes that “the mountains were able to give rise to
and consolidate a variety of economies that, despite the changing economic
conditions, managed to maintain the equilibrium of the delicate relation-
ship between man and the environment in such difficult terrain over the
centuries” (Felice 2007, 89).
The first censuses carried out in post-unification Italy (that is in the
second half of the 19th century) revealed that as many workers were em-
ployed in manufacturing (45.2%) as in agriculture (45.5%) in the mountain-
ous areas of Abruzzo (Felice 2000, 285; Id. 2008, 89). Of course, this pro-
duction mainly involved craftwork and other work from home that would
prove inadequate to the needs of modern industrialisation and would inex-
169
lets, but on periodical opportunities such as fairs and markets and practi-
cally ubiquitous peddling.
This was also an area bordering with the Papal State, over which it was
impossible to exercise control, especially on the side marked by the moun-
tains of the north-western slopes of the Gran Sasso and the southern slopes
of the Monti della Laga. Many openings were available to those wishing
to secretly get to the other side to expatriate either for trade or other rea-
sons. Smuggling ran parallel to regulated activities and involved enormous
numbers of offenders (Bulgarelli Lukacs 2006, 116–22). It is well known that
the Via degli Abruzzi connected Naples and Florence by way of the Apen-
nines, but by the 16th century it now appeared resized in comparison with
the Middle Ages, however many paths flanking it both longitudinally and
transversally, thus helping to connect not only the major centres, but also
those of lesser significance, and sheep tracks and paths (tratturelli), mule
tracks and every other kind of path able to meet the needs of the Apennine
area (Berardi 2005, 313–4; Di Stefano 2007, 12–6.).
3. Secondary and tertiary sectors
Mountains and plain were connected throughout the whole year and this
was fundamental to the economic system of the area. Transhumance and
seasonal emigration were based on this connection, but could not univer-
sally meet the constant search for additional means of sustenance on the
mountains, nor could they ensure the self-sufficiency of families.
There were strategies of diversification in the manufacturing and ser-
vice sectors, favouring a plurality of rural activities and proto-industrial
initiatives that were tested and practiced anywhere to different degrees of
intensity and in different ways from place to place.
Costantino Felice notes that “the mountains were able to give rise to
and consolidate a variety of economies that, despite the changing economic
conditions, managed to maintain the equilibrium of the delicate relation-
ship between man and the environment in such difficult terrain over the
centuries” (Felice 2007, 89).
The first censuses carried out in post-unification Italy (that is in the
second half of the 19th century) revealed that as many workers were em-
ployed in manufacturing (45.2%) as in agriculture (45.5%) in the mountain-
ous areas of Abruzzo (Felice 2000, 285; Id. 2008, 89). Of course, this pro-
duction mainly involved craftwork and other work from home that would
prove inadequate to the needs of modern industrialisation and would inex-
169
